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The Heartland BulletinIssue 26 - 18th November 2018Peace be with you my friend for all of time,Peace of a kind that sets your life in rhyme.Peace in your heart and in your mind and soul,Peace of a kind that makes your life a whole.Peace be with all folk in this hurting worldSo many lost and by the storms are whirled.Peace can bind all God’s children into one,Healing and helping them to see the sun.Peace is a calm that lodges deep inside,Peace is contentment which we cannot hide.Peace stems from love and has no place for fear;It’s to be cherished and to be held dear.Peace is a gift, and we must pass it on;it comes from God, just as He gave His Son.It’s not for us to keep or hold too tight;It’s to be shared, so we can spread its light. E Plews 2018This bulletin has been collated by Gill Elliott of Trinity URC St Albans.If you have news or notices that you wish to be included in the nextBulletin, please email gilldotelliott@gmail.com, or ask your Heartlandrepresentative to do so on your behalf.
Chiswell Green hada knitted memorial.At Trinity’s Remembrance service, the names and briefbiographies of those from Trinity who were killed in theFirst World War were read out.Wheathampstead have now considered the draft Legal Sharing Agreementfrom the Synod. Although this is a work in progress there now seems to be lightat the end of a very long tunnel - Praise the Lord!Please think of St Katherine’s, Dunstable as their boiler has broken, which meansthey have had to cancel their Grand Christmas Coffee Morning; in themeantime they are holding Sunday morning services in the Chapel.Churches Together in St Albans have an initiative to send Christmas Cards to allof the prisoners in The Mount at Bovingdon. Trinity volunteered to sign 100cards; many were signed at the morning service on the 18th, and the rest will besigned the following week.Winter Beds ProjectLast year, Trinity was involved in the St Albans Severe Weather Winter BedsProject (SWEP). This was run in conjunction with the Open Door homeless Shelter,and offered 5 extra beds during particularly cold weather; these beds were inTrinity’s Upper Lounge. This was very successful, and will restart this winter.Volunteers are still needed, please, to either welcome people into the church,stay overnight or give them breakfast in the morning. Training is given: the datesfor this are the 26th and 30th November at 7.45 at Trinity. The same training is beinggiven on both days.If you are interested in helping, please email david@davidpartridge.com.
Wheathampstead took part in a village-wide remembrance of 100 yearsof the Great War. These photos show some of the amazing stations onthe remembrance trail route at St Helenswhich was a Churches Together event.Each arrangement represented differentaspects of the commemoration whichwere The Armistice, Remembrance,sacrifice, peace and hope. Softappropriate music was played whichadded so much to the moving andreflective atmosphere.Many of the local school children wroteincredible poetry and created drawingsabout their thoughts on war using thestories of those from Wheathampstead who died .A thought from the trail leaflet which contained many quotes, prayers andBible readings:The legacy of the Great War 'woven into' our lives is an obligation to workfor peace, both in our personal lives and on the world stage, to start thetask even if will not be fulfilled in our lifetime.
At a recent meeting of Synod, the highlight for me was the invitation to do aprayer walk before lunch. As the meeting was being held at High Cross URC,Tottenham, this was to be a prayer walk with a difference and we were invited toengage with the sounds and sights of city life.For those of us unable to walk any significant distance we could watch a slideshow of sights around the area and do a virtual prayer walk. As often is the casefor me I picked up my pencil and began to doodle as I prayed. As my pencilbegan to form the outline of a tree, a defaultdoodle, my eyes saw a city road sign on thescreen and a connection was made. I wasfascinated with where the connection took meand the time became quite special as I, a ruralgirl at heart, explored the city through thesymbols of rural life. This was a totally new slanton the city and I thought I would share with youthe doodle and the meditation that arose fromthis 20 minute prayer walk. HeatherThe CityThis is land, it is creation.It is a profusion of light,suffused with light,signposted in light.From a million windows light reflects by dayand shines by night;light shining on people who walk this land.From a million signposts life is directed,even tempted,journeys in cars, on buses, on foot,even deep within the landas trains snake their way like worms,fertilising this land,bringing new life,new growth,through new journeys.This land once green,now multicoloured, never just grey,is still creation, still creativeand people still farm this land,creating new opportunities,feeding growth,nurturing life and harvesting love.This land is God’s playgroundand we, God’s people, are invitedto play,to explore, to discover –who, why, where;our journey of life continuesand the path still windsand the signs remind usof the infinite possibilities in God’sland.Look and listen,feel God’s heartbeat,and measure your steps to thesound of love.Be with God for God is here.This is God’s land.Heather Whyte 2018(Tottenham Green, opposite High Cross URC,Tottenham; photo by Gill Elliott)
Advent Activities!!In November Edward Streetcongregation put togethersome Shoe Boxes for childrenoverseas.At December's Gift Servicewe will be giving gifts for allages to the local SalvationArmy Appeal.The Revd John Hardaker will be leadingAdvent Bible Studies at HomewoodRoad URC at 2.30 p.m. On Wednesdays28th November and the 5th, 12th and19th December All welcome.Wigmore Church will be holding Crafts,Tea and Carols on 16th December at 3pm.Homewood Road URC will once againbe knitting angels which will be leftaround St Albans with messages ofhope, to be found and picked up bypeople in thecommunity.Recipients will beable to engagewith HomewoodRoad via Twitterwhen they pick theirangel up.If you would like tojoin in with thisinitiative, pleasedownload a pattern fromwww.christmasangel.net. The angelsneed to be with Homewood Road bythe end of November.Homewood Road URC inviteeveryone to join them in singingCarols Round the Tree,accompanied by St Albans CityBand, at 5.30 on 1st December.Afterwards, everyone is invitedto share mulled wine and nibblesin the Hall.Wheathampstead are holding anafternoon Carol Service onSunday 16th December at 3.30pm.This will be held in the LadyChapel at St Helen's Church andwill be followed by mince piesand mulled wine. Join us if youcan. Children are very welcomeHomewood Road will be holdinga Carol Service on 16thDecember at 6 pm. The choir willbe joined by other singers in thepastorate. All are welcome toattend the service.Trinity will having a MessyChurch Christmas Party on 29thDecember.
Looking forward towards Advent .A hymn from Heather WhyteAdvent Story (to the tune ‘VeniImmanuel’)1. Long time ago, beyond our sight,your people told stories of light.We read and listen still today,and in these stories find our way.Rejoice, rejoice, the Lord will come 2. Your faithful people turned to you,Abraham, Isaac, Jacob too,to you again, O children of God.Through wilderness, water and sandYour people followed hand in hand.3. A prophet, John told tales of hope,Rejoice a new beginning for all folk;in clothes and words of olden days,4. Mary, a maiden, gave her wordhe told the people of new ways.and named her son as she had heard;Rejoice though startled, Joseph followedthrough5. A baby born on Christmas dayand hope dawned in the world anew.did come to show the world the way,Rejoice to live in love and see the lightthat shines from God, restoring sight.Rejoice Heather Whyte 2011Prayers for the Heartland Group of churchesDateChurchPrayer focus4th NovemberPanshangerMinistry to children and young people.11th NovemberHomewood Road.Continuity of children’s work.18th NovemberTrinityHomeless in St Albans.25th NovemberWelwyn Garden CityOutreach ministries with families and those onthe fringe.2nd DecemberWheathampsteadDevelopment project with local Anglicans9th DecemberHeartland LAGLinks group.16th DecemberBricket Wood.Wisdom on how to conclude the situation23rd DecemberChiswell GreenThe Pudding Club.30th DecemberDunstable Edward Street.Spiritual conversations with hall users.6th JanuaryDunstable St Katherine’sToddler group.WaitingWonderful God,Amidst the bustle of lifeInstil in us patience.Take our moments and make themIncarnate, a living experience of hope;Nativity in our flesh;Growing God in our being. Heather Whyte 08AdventAmidst the clamour of a censusDivine movements were afoot.‘Veni’, you said, and allEternity cascaded to earth in onemoment.Now we await you againTrembling with excitement, anticipationand apprehension. Heather Whyte 2004
it comes from God, just as He gave His Son. It’s not for us to keep or hold too tight; . Dunstable as their boiler has broken, which means they have had to cancel their Grand Christmas Coffee Morning; in the meantime they are holding Sunday morning services in the Chapel. Churches Together in St Albans have an initiative to send Christmas Cards to all of the prisoners in The Mount at .
